The bulky bandage was sloshing with coagulating blood. I peeled it back and found two popped stitches and a gaping wound. We agreed that I should repair the damage with the doctor's borrowed tools. I set off once again to find him.

He was surprisingly pleased to see me, and bade me sit and drink some tea. I explained the opened stitches.

"No problem," he said and topped off the pot with boiling water.

"PROBLEM," I disagreed.

He asked me why I'd cut them open, then told me to leave them be. I implored him for the use of his sewing needle and a dose of anesthetic. He refused, but finally put on hia coat to come and have a look himself.

He arrived without his bag, clucked and poked around. Why had Jay cut the stitches? He hadn't? Then why had I cut them? Why had Jay moved around so much? Where was the rice Jay had been told to eat? We sat and argued, the good doctor refusing to go back for his needle and thread until we took full responsibility for the treacherous stitches and the open wound.

The syringe worked no better the second time around. The doctor punched four brand new holes while Jay lay white and shaking on the bed. When the work was done the doctor insisted that I wash his hands and pay him several times his previous bill. It was late, he pointed out. We should have called him at a more convenient time.

I packed our bags for the early morning bus ride and toppled into bed. Sleep came instantly, then gradually gave way to a an insistent hammering noise. Every exhausted muscle in my body fought against returning to reality. The knocking continued. I rose and stumbled groggily to the door. The proprietor thrust me aside and marched over to Jay's bed. He snatched back the covers to inspect the wound and demanded a detailed accounting of the accident.

"Shoo," I said in English. Eight adults, two children and a dog had already followed them inside. Everyone ignored me.

"We're sleeping," I said. A little girl crouched down to unzip my pack. I picked her up like a cat and put her out the door, then pushed and shoved until the room was clear. And then, while Jay lay sleeping, I threw up into the rusty bucket in the corner.